Taipower smother Sichuan Dragons, remain unbeaten

By Paul Huang / Contributing reporter

Fri, Oct 26, 2012 - Page 20

Taipower made it two wins in a row by topping the Sichuan Dragons 14-2 in seven innings on the second day of the 2012 Cross-strait Championship at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu yesterday afternoon to remain unbeaten at 2-0.

Starter Wang Tsong-hao shook off a sub-par first inning, in which he served up a pair of runs on three hits, by pitching one-hit ball over the next four shutout frames to pocket the win.

The lefty out of Pingtung’s Mei Ho Senior High School, who joined Taipower in 2009, has quietly taken over the distinction as the staff ace for skipper Chen Tseh-hsiang with a repertoire of pitches that include a fastball, a slider and a wicked changeup.

Doing the damage offensively for Taipower, who blew the game wide open with an eight-run fourth, were Huang Chang-en and Chen Chih-kao, who collected three hits apiece to lead an attack that rang up 16 hits off three different Chinese hurlers, highlighted by Huang’s inside-the-park home run off reliever Zhang Wei in the top of the fifth.

As for the Dragons, things looked rather promising over the first three innings as they answered a two-run first by Taipower with two runs of their own in the bottom of the same inning to tie the game at 2-2.

However, starter Wang Meng-hao failed to build on his early success by allowing the pressure to get to him as he served up three straight base hits in the fourth to suffer the loss.

Taipei City 8, Tianjin Lions 5

Taipei City won their game against the Tianjin Lions 8-5 at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City early yesterday afternoon to improve their record to 2-0 in this year’s tournament.

Starter Chiang Cheng-fong pitched seven innings of four-run ball on eight hits to pick up the victory for the home team.

The loss was charged against his counterpart, Lee Chih-lang, who lasted only three innings with five allowed runs on six hits to set his team back.

The Lions actually led the game briefly 2-1 with two runs in the second, before Lee served up four runs in the third to give the hosts the lead for good.